1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention generally relate to a sheet feed device and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feed device.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there has been known an image forming apparatus that includes a sheet feed device equipped with a sheet tray (or a sheet cassette) for storing a stack of recording media sheets such as paper sheets or the like and a guide member that detachably supports the sheet tray.
In general, in such an image forming apparatus like that disclosed, for example, in JP-2006-36491-A, the sheet tray, or sheet cassette, of the sheet feed device includes rollers on a bottom surface thereof so as to enable the sheet cassette to roll onto a mounting portion or a guide portion formed substantially in the shape of a rectangular hole.
However, in such a related art sheet feed device, there is a drawback in that because the rollers are provided only to the sheet tray, when mounting or detaching the sheet tray relative to the image forming apparatus, that portion of the bottom surface of the sheet tray which lies between the rollers contacts an edge of an opening of the mounting portion, thereby causing rattling and thus preventing the sheet tray from being mounted or detached smoothly.
In this type of sheet feed device, upon mounting the sheet tray into the mounting portion of the sheet feed device, it is important to properly position the sheet tray horizontally in a width direction thereof that is the equivalent of a horizontal direction perpendicular to an imaginary plane through which the sheet tray moves when it is mounted in the sheet feed device (hereinafter referred to as the mounting direction or the mounting/detachment direction).
Accordingly, in general, outer side surfaces of the sheet tray are configured to slide along inner side surfaces of the mounting portion of the sheet feed device. It is to be noted that some clearance is generally provided between the outer side surfaces of the sheet tray and the inner side surfaces of the mounting portion so as to facilitate mounting and detachment of the sheet tray.
With this configuration, however, when mounting or detaching the sheet tray, rattling still occurs, thereby preventing the sheet tray from being smoothly mounted in or detached from the sheet feed device.